Inferno
by Tsuyukusa
Summary: Continuation of the manga after Volume 3.  Sort of a hypothetical best guess as to what could have happened next if the actual manga is ever resumed.  There will definitely be yaoi content, and probably violence too!
1. Chapter 1

This story is meant to continue where Alichino Volume 3 abruptly ended. I know there were several chapters published after the third volume, but I've only seen a few of those pages. They at least inspired this attempt at a continuation, but I certainly make no claims of knowing what Kouryu-sensei's grand plan was.

**Chapter 1: The Sun is Silent**

Tsugiri's smock was still too large for him; it had been a castoff like all of his other possessions. Its hem snagged on every tree branch, but Tsugiri took care to detach himself without tearing the cloth. Mother would have to mend any rips, and he didn't want her to strain herself any more than necessary. Although he was only six, he understood a little of the adult world. Out there, there were evil men and wicked creatures who wished to hurt him and his mother. That's why it was necessary to flee from village to village, living as beggars and keeping their faces hidden. These details scarcely bothered Tsugiri: in fact, he had been enraptured by it all. Perhaps his mother was a princess, hiding from an evil sorcerer. He would protect her, absolutely! He often practiced fending off imaginary assailants with a broken stick while his mother watched, smiling fondly, but even Tsugiri could see the troubled lines at the corners of her eyes.

The branches clawed at his clothes and Tsugiri cursed under his breath, a habit he had picked up from the village children that his mother would have scolded him for. She would have scolded him for walking home through the woods, too, but it was the only way he could avoid the larger children who taunted him for his strange accent and shabby clothes. He didn't see why he had to go to school, anyway... he belonged at home, where he could protect his mother.

It took a few moments for Tsugiri to realize that the thin fingers pulling at his smock did not belong to trees. Ghostly pale figures swirled, their legs disappearing into thick vapor. At times they had the heads of women or beautiful boys, and sometimes they were fanciful animals that Tsugiri had never seen. Gossamer wings crumpled and collapsed like those of a butterfly freshly emerged from its chrysalis before melting into clawed feet or silky fur. Their ever-changing forms made them impossible to count, but Tsugiri could feel at least a dozen of their insistent presences, and he sensed larger ones keeping their distance. A beautiful girl's face laughed at him with the sound of a chirping bird before being clawed by a silver-coated tiger with the wings of a dove. They pushed and bit at each other, struggling to touch the small child at the center of it all. The lucky few were able to tear away a few strands of hair or perhaps a button, to the great envy of their companions. Tsugiri did not know what the creatures were called, although some called them fairies. Some whispered a name in hushed tones, as if it were a taboo word. "Alichino." There were many kinds of demon, or so it was said. The fire-breathing Draghignazzo, the Barbariccia who took the form of beautiful, sensual women at night but lived as beasts by daylight, the flesh-eating Ciriatto, the Farfarello who churned the skies during thunderstorms... but among all of these, the Alichino where the most like humans, and therefore the most dangerous.

Tsugiri hated "Alichino." He hated their faces, human and yet not. He hated their cold fingers as they caressed his cheek, the way bolder ones tried for a kiss. Naked white bodies writhed like worms before his eyes. "Leave me alone!" he demanded.

"Little boy..." whispered the strongest, the one best able to maintain a human form. "You are never alone."

"I'll kill you!" The cold hands touched him again. He swatted at them, sending a few to spiral back into vapor. "I'll kill all of you!!"

"Tsugiri's talking to himself again!!" squealed a voice that was decidedly human, and young. "He's totally crazy. Everybody says he lives with his crazy mum in a shack!" A boy Tsugiri's age but much taller crept out of the underbrush, followed by more that Tsugiri recognized as his schoolmates. Ever since he had come to this village, the local children had harassed him far more than the shape shifting ghosts ever did. And unlike the Alichino, the children were not satisfied until they saw Tsugiri bleed.

"My dad says it's his mum that's put a curse on our chickens. They don't lay eggs no more. Let's beat him!" The boy pounded his fist into his palm and gave Tsugiri a long, cruel glare. Suddenly, though, his eyes blinked and squinted. "...Hey, look at that! Do you guys see that?"

The Alichino had coiled around Tsugiri in a possessive embrace, melding together until their filmy bodies were visible even to ordinary eyes. Tsugiri stood motionless in the center of a great storm of wraiths as they changed their shapes to more beastly creatures.

"H...he's got devils in him!" shrieked a boy brandishing a large stick. He took a swing at Tsugiri, passing right through some of the smaller Alichino. Before his stick could connect, though, one of the Alichino beast-girls had grasped his arm in a huge, scaly paw. Her other hand raked down the side of the boy's face, which had frozen in a wide-eyed expression of terror. The village boy made no sound, even as her clawed fingers dug into the soft flesh of his cheeks until they were dyed crimson. It was as if she were sucking everything from him - his blood, his voice, his very soul. The other children stood transfixed, either in terror or voyeuristic fascination. They did not notice the other Alichino, in the forms of winged snakes, as they tangled about their legs.

Finally, the Alichino dropped the boy's body to the ground. Save for the cuts on his face, his body was undamaged - yet there was no question that he was dead. Soon his soulless body would rot like an overripe fruit until there was nothing left. The children died with that thought half-formed in their minds as Alichino swarmed over them like hungry ghosts.

Tsugiri had closed his eyes. That smell... the smell of blood and death. It was familiar to him, stirring at his earliest memories. By the time he opened his eyes again, the Alichino had fled, leaving the forest floor littered with corpses.

"Boy..." whispered an awestruck voice. Tsugiri turned in fear.

"I didn't hurt them, I swear!! It was the Alichino!"

"I know. It was the Alichino." The speaker was a young man with unruly, dark hair. He was much older than Tsugiri or the other village children, but his face was youthful and kind. His clothes were those of a traveler, yet he carried a drawn sword like a soldier. However, the village guard never looked as kind as this young man. He stared at Tsugiri as if he expected to see something other than an underfed six-year-old child.

"You're lucky to be alive, kid. Alichino exist to grant wishes, and at that moment those children wanted you dead. The Alichino took their payment, and they would have killed you if something hadn't stopped them." He sheathed the sword in one smooth motion. "Be thankful that you were spared, and run home."

"I don't have a home anymore... we'll have to leave tonight," began the boy, tugging nervously at his smock. The traveler raised a thin, questioning eyebrow. "The spirits always come to me, and it's not the first time they've hurt people... Mother and I will have to run." Unbidden tears welled in Tsugiri's eyes. He would not regret leaving the village, since his only memories would be of taunting and beatings. Mother, however... Mother was so tired.

"The Alichino come to you, but don't take your soul?" The traveler frowned like a scholar savoring a difficult problem. "From what I saw, it was as if they wanted you more than any of the other children. There's something odd about you, but I don't know what it is. It's like they're moths drawn to a flame... they know they'll be burned, but they can't resist." His frown deepened as he muttered words that Tsugiri didn't understand. There wasn't time to think about it – the afternoon sunlight was growing dim, and soon night would fall. These dead children would be missed at dinner. The parents would come with lanterns and dogs and torches, like they had so many times before. He had to run, had to warn Mother and run.

Tsugiri set off at a run, only to be grasped firmly by the collar before he had gone more than a few steps. He was now at the mercy of this man who carried a sword and did not fear Alichino... "It's rude to run off without introducing yourself, kid. I'm Hyula." The grip on Tsugiri's collar was released. "You're shaking like a leaf in the wind. I don't blame you for being afraid."

"I... I'm not afraid! I have to protect Mother!"

"A boy your age?" Hyula laughed pleasantly. "You're still a bit small, but I guess if you can face a pack of Alichino, you're not as weak as you look." With a stretch, he clapped his hand down on Tsugiri's thin shoulder. "Well, I'm suddenly tired of traveling alone. What if I helped you and your mother? Now why don't you tell me your name, so we can be friends?"

"Tsu...gi...ri. My name is... Tsugiri."


	2. Chapter 2

I started writing a couple paragraphs of this fic in 2002. oo Supposedly, Kouryu-sensei is going to continue Alichino with a 4th volume, but who knows when (or if) that will be out...

**Chapter 2: In the Middle of Our Life's Journey**

"Tsugiri!"

Tsugiri awoke not to Hyula's smile, but to the rather worried face of his friend and traveling companion, Ryouko. The memory faded back into the darkness that births all dreams. Although Myoubi had loosed ten year's of memories upon Tsugiri's mind, they often came as a trickle, rather than a flood, and sometimes in the form of daydreams. Or nightmares. "Ryouko..." muttered Tsugiri, still half asleep.

"You were tangled in your bedsheets and crying out for someone. I thought it best to wake you before you started screaming. We don't want too much attention."

"...Oh." Tsugiri's expression was unreadable. The dream had been about Hyula... and he desperately wished to see Hyula again, even if only a dream. Still, Ryouko was right. If he started screaming in his sleep, the innkeeper would remember his face in the morning. "You weren't asleep? Weren't you wounded?" Ryouko smiled, but his expression too was ambiguous. He had removed the clothing stained from the battle with Matsulika and replaced it with a simple shirt and a traveling cloak.

"Sometimes it's hard to fall asleep. Besides, my shared power with Myoubi lets me heal much faster than a normal person. You don't have to worry, Tsugiri... save your strength for when it is needed."

"I'm not tired either." Ryouko shrugged and turned towards the open window of the inn they had chosen for the night. Tsugiri had already noticed that any inn they stayed at had to have large windows, and that Ryouko always left them open. The night breeze that blew through the room was not as calming as it might have been, since Myoubi did not come with it. Ryouko's eyes traced the flight path of a grey-winged moth. "It feels weird to sleep in a strange bed. I don't even know why I'm here. I'm not important in this..." Ryouko turned back to face him.

"More important than you know. It won't take long for Matsulika to regenerate her body and toy with us again."

"Why didn't you let me kill her?" Tsugiri knew something of his ability to kill Alichino - even Myoubi, who feared nothing, shirked his touch. "I could have finished her earlier today!"

"Possibly."

"'Possibly? Ryouko, I don't know much about Alichinos or Kusabi or whatever you and Myoubi are always whispering about, but I know I've killed one of them with only a touch! If I didn't know better I'd say you were protecting her - or protecting whatever face she's stolen!" Momentary anger flashed in Ryouko's eyes, only to be replaced by resignation.

"Perhaps."

"Are you ever going to give me a straight answer!? If I'm so important, then why won't anyone tell me what I'm supposed to do!?"

"You want an answer? Fine. Perhaps it would pain me to see Amiya die again. Even though I know she's long dead, when I see that face, distorted as it is... I want to believe that Amiya has returned to me, and that Hibiki is alive and laughing just as he used to... Sometimes all I want is to touch those dreams again. Is that a straight enough answer for you?" Ryouko's smile was faint as Tsugiri's sudden rage diminished. "Myoubi would chide me for being so human."

"Don't you love Myoubi now?" Ryouko seemed calm, but his body was as tense as if he were going to battle.

"You like asking me difficult questions, Tsugiri."

"You only give me difficult answers." Ryouko laughed softly and turned back to the window. Tsugiri scoffed in disgust and pulled the blanket over his face, eventually falling into a restless sleep. Ryouko continued to watch the window.

Difficult answers were something that Myoubi also delighted in... maybe he had become too much like the Alichino over the years. With her affected innocents and calculated smiles, it was impossible to know whether Myoubi had become more human. Behind the eyes of the little girl was something ancient and cunning. If the eyes were the windows of the soul, then Myoubi's soul was stained red with the blood of every person she had used and spent. Ryouko hated such unashamed treachery, and yet he trusted Myoubi with his own life and the lives of his friends. If that wasn't "love", then what was it?

It was common sense. Myoubi wouldn't let them die until their purpose ran out, and therefore she'd protect them as long as they were useful to her. Ryouko and Tsugiri still had many things to accomplish... unlike Amiya and Hibiki, who had played their parts in the great game only to be discarded like captured pawns, a murder of negligence. Ryouko now shared his soul with that of a killer. If some of her duplicitous nature had been imparted to him, then what had Myoubi gained from Ryouko?

Myoubi's beak ripped into the shrew, ending the life of the creature quickly. It was a merciful act. Myoubi understood the concept of mercy, foreign as it was. An Alichino only took the soul of a human who wished for the kindness of death. It was better to let the helpless creatures die painlessly, believing that their little wishes had some significance in the great world. That was mercy.

There were few humans here in the wastelands, although the sorrow that attracted Alichino permeated every rock. The land itself was barren and dry, for demonkind had little interest in crops or gardens. Mankind had long since fled the region, if they had not died. This was no longer a place for men. Lower Alichino, mere wisps of form and substance, infested the forest like insects. Calcabrina, nimble-footed spider demons, had set their webs about in the hopes of snaring some unwary beast. Myoubi was an aristocrat among her species and she detested the taste of raw animal flesh, but even she required some sustenance if she expected to fly so much in a day. A human soul was far sweeter and had the added benefit of increasing her power by a fraction, but hunger seasoned even the most unappetizing meals. She ate the shrew whole before some beast could challenge her, and set to flying once more.

Roushouki's castle grew out of the wasteland as if it were organic. A demon's home was not something that could be created by human hands. Humans loved symmetry and line; Roushouki's vast palace was a jumble of stone and shadow, grand in its decadence. Many times in many seasons had Myoubi looked upon it. Long ago, the castle had been beautiful, surrounded by a grassy plain rich with flowers. It had been beautiful even when surrounded by flames as those meadows burnt. Now it stood majestic; corrupt but grandiose and no less lovely.

There was no doubt in her mind: she could taste Enju's presence on the wind as easily as she felt the direction of true north, her owl's senses perfectly honed for tracking. Ryouko and Tsugiri were still several days' journey from the place - perhaps more, since it was such hostile country. It would be best to regroup with them and confirm her suspicions. So Matsulika was truly working for Roushouki, of all people, and they had Enju in their grasps. Myoubi had always felt an unexpected ease in Enju's prescience. In her way, she thought of him as a friend.

How weak of her. How human. The taste of that realization was worse than the taste of shrew, yet she could hardly deny it. Her pride demanded that she still try. Yes, Enju must be rescued because of his importance to her cause. She, Myoubi, highest of the Alichino, could hardly succumb to something as pathetic as affection.

Whose delusions ran deeper?


	3. Chapter 3

And this chapter earns the "T" rating. laugh Nothing graphic, but Roushouki is very, very rape-y. (Is that a word? It is now.) This is also where I start coming up with my own backstory for the Alichino world... well, it's more like I'm attempting to extrapolate from little hints in the manga. Some of Roushouki's dialogue in this is taken directly from the Volume 4 chapter scans of Alichino, so he really is that creepy!

**Chapter 3: The Cause Is In You To Be Sought**

Enju's eyes flicked open as he suddenly awoke from a rather disturbing dream. But dreams, like the fog that often misted the garden on brisk autumn mornings, quickly dissipated into nothingness.

It was then that he realized he was no longer in his room. The bedclothes were much too rich, decorated lavishly with gold threadwork and tapestry. Enju was modestly well-off, but his tastes were more earthy and elegant. He chafed at the ostentatious display of wealth even as he sighed in relief. He'd expected to wake up in a dungeon, if he woke up at all. Nothing in the richly decorated room suggested the sort of torture he had imagined in the fleeting seconds before that awful, violent woman had knocked him unconscious.

He was still acutely aware that he was a prisoner. Enju felt something like a small lizard trapped inside a glass terrarium. The plush, warm comfort of the heavy bedsheets and the sweet perfume in the air soothed his nerves, but it was all so empty and artificial.

...Much like the impossible beauty of an Alichino. Yes... he had definitely sensed something inhuman in the woman who had abducted him. Her face was perfect in its beauty, but flawed in that it hardly resembled the face of a real woman. A human face would be dotted with freckles, or creased from smiling. Like this room, an Alichino was too perfect to be real.

Enju tried to rise from the bed, but the stifling heat of the room and the oppressive incense dulled his senses. Had he been drugged? He managed to drag himself to a sitting position, but the effort left him dizzy and drained. At least he was now able to look through the large window to see an unfamiliar landscape of scorched earth and twisted trees. He'd never seen such a place to begin to guess where his captor had taken him. Nor did he have any way of knowing how long he'd been held in drugged sleep. Someone, probably a servant, had brushed his hair and dressed him in a soft embroidered robe, but Enju was no guest. He was a hostage, and whoever had ordered his kidnapping was keeping him alive for a reason. A growing sense of dread forced its way through the drug-induced stupor.

Tsugiri. They wanted Tsugiri.

Enju forced himself to think clearly. It would do no good to think irrationally when he must focus on finding a way out of this gilded cage before Tsugiri fell for the demon's trap. Ryouko and Myoubi would protect the boy until then. Despite his reassurances, Enju found himself anxiously running his fingers through his long red hair. The habit reminded him of the times when he had gently patted Tsugiri's hair after yet another encounter with the village children. Adults rarely saw an Alichino unless it was wished for, whereas children often saw the wisps of demon and called then fairies or elves or other such fanciful creatures. Tsugiri had always attracted Alichino as a lodestone draws a compass. He could only hope that the boy hadn't done anything rash, like rushing off to rescue him.

Enju worried himself to agitation until the sound of a door opening broke his thoughts. He instinctively moved to escape, but the drug-induced weakness had yet to leave his body. He'd be lucky to make it to the door before his strength gave out, so he certainly wouldn't be able to cross the unknown wastelands outside... assuming he even knew the way home.

It was not the Alichino woman who stepped through the doorway. Even though Alichino were shapeshifters, the beautiful man who turned to face Enju had an unmistakable presence. His hair was the deep red of fire itself, lightly brushing over heavily embroidered robes as he walked towards the bed with the self-assurance of a lord in his castle. Cool water-colored eyes regarded Enju with an air of bemused detachment, making the captive man feel suddenly awkward. The visitor's face was at once familiar and alien, like the reflection in a carnival mirror.

"I am Roushouki. I welcome you to my estate. I trust you are comfortable?

"As comfortable as I can be after being kidnapped, drugged, and imprisoned."

"I'm saddened that you think I would keep you prisoner. You are my honored guest. Is there anything that can be provided, some accommodation that could be made, in order to ensure your comfort?" Roushouki's speech was slow and sweet like honey being poured, but with an unpleasant aftertaste.

"I want to know where Tsugiri is, and if he is well." Enju struggled to keep himself under control. He was not a violent man, nor easily provoked, and yet he wanted nothing more than to shatter this man's beautiful face with his fist.

"Ah... Tsugiri?" It was obvious that Roushouki knew exactly of whom he spoke.

"You would know him as the Kusabi."

"Ah, yes, the curse with a human face." Roushouki laughed softly. "The boy is well, I would assume, given that he is under Myoubi's protection. Despite my efforts, he remains beyond my reach at the moment. Don't worry, though, dear Enju, he will soon join you. I'm quite interested in him... in both of you." The demon lord ran his fingers over the silk duvet covering Enju's bed in a way that made the delicate man's skin crawl. "For now, please enjoy my... hospitality. I believe you have already become acquainted with my servant, Matsulika. I hope her methods were not too violent - you seem unharmed, but she does take a certain pleasure in inflicting pain."

Matsulika. So that had been the Alichino who had kidnapped him. The name sounded vaguely familiar, yet Enju could not recall meeting her before. "I was under the impression that the Alichino served no one." Roushouki smiled more, practically purring with some unknown satisfaction.

"For a scholar, you know so little. How many years have you spent in that quaint little village, my dear Enju?" It suddenly occurred to Enju that he could not remember. The years before Tsugiri had came melted into a blur of seasons. He had only known a few people for any length of time - Ryouko, Myoubi, Tsugiri. It was not that Enju avoided people... it was simply that they seemed to wink out of existence, their lives extinguished like briefly burning candles. "I see, you've managed to hide the truth even from yourself. I'm sure Myoubi has guessed..."

"I'm not sure what you're implying, Lord Roushouki," said Enju, pulling back from the other man's sickeningly rich presence. The lord laughed softly as he sat on the edge of the bed, so close that Enju could smell the perfume on his clothes and feel the heat of his body. Unlike the Alichino, whose auras were cold and piercing, Roushouki burned with passionate fire. Enju had believed Alichino to be the strongest of all the demon species, but even Myoubi would appear as a pale shadow beside this man.

"You are as beautiful as one of my pets, an Alichino even..." Enju swallowed hard. "Have you ever wondered why that beauty does not fade?" Roushouki reached out to touch Enju's flushed cheek with long, cool fingers, but the scholar could recoil no further. He sunk into the pile of velvet-covered pillows behind him until Roushouki had nearly pinned him to the bed. "Even an Alichino would need to eat many souls to keep such a face, yet you have remained the same for decades..."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not..."

"You've blocked your own memory so you don't even know what you are." Roushouki's body pressed him into the pillows until it was hard to breathe. Every breath of air was full of the heady scent of perfume and something sweeter, like opium. Enju had closed his eyes, but the lord's lips were hot against his neck. "It's said that anything I touch becomes mine forever. That being understood..." Enju closed his eyes even tighter – a pitiful defense but the best he could muster.

"Please... let me go..." he whispered.

"Open your eyes."

"No." Enju's defiance was born of desperation, but he could be remarkably stubborn.

"Open them." At this refusal, Roushouki kissed the other man possessively. There was no affection in the act, only lust and dominance. Enju immediately forget his attempted boldness and snapped his eyes open as he tried to push the lord away with all the power he had in his weakened limbs. Roushouki merely laughed, a sound that was round and smooth like chocolate bonbons, but after a moment he pulled away so Enju could breathe. "I know those eyes, Enju."

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met," he replied icily. "I don't usually associate with such ill-mannered demons." Roushouki ignored his protests.

"We've made our faces different, but you can never change the eyes. They're the windows to the soul, did you know? How ironic... even though we met only briefly, I could never forget my dear twin brother."

"What are you talking about?!" Enju finally found the physical strength to push Roushouki away and awkwardly roll to the edge of the bed. He reeled with dizziness as he stood, but managed to keep himself upright. "I... I don't have a brother! And I'm not an Alichino!"

"I never said that you were." Roushouki settled comfortably on the bed, his heavy robes a stark contrast to Enju's thin, shaking body. "Alichino are drawn almost hypnotically towards the Kusabi's radiance. There is no Alichino who does not dream of savoring that delectable boy." Roushouki licked his lips, sending a shiver through Enju. "And yet not a one would dare disturb the peace of your home, save Matsulika upon my orders. Have you every wondered why this is, or do you simply avoid thinking about unpleasant facts?"

"I... I don't know why that is. Myoubi simply told me that Tsugiri would be safer with me than anyone else in the world, so I have cared for him since then."

"The Alichino fear you, my dearest Enju." Enju was too shocked to respond. Alichino were creatures who could not die. Only the Kusabi and Lord Roushouki seemed to have any kind of power over them, and judging by the anarchic nature of the creatures, it did not appear to be very much. "Let me tell you a story, dear brother. You would think it a fairy tale, but such stories often have a seed of truth within them." Roushouki smiled as if he were educating a small, slow child. Enju shuddered to think of the demon ever producing offspring.

"Long ago, the noble lineage of Malebranche ruled this world and every creature in it, from the lowly humans to the great demon clans of the Alichino, the Navarrese, the Calacabrina.. The Kusabi was kept as a beautiful songbird in a cage, a delicate tool more subtle than the sword. Even the proud Alichino submitted to the lord Malacoda, knowing that rebellion could be quashed by a touch from the Kusabi."

"Ah, but in the many years since those times the world has fallen into disorder. The Kusabi was lost to the humans and the era of mankind's dominance began. The Alichino found a niche among humans as granters of wishes and eaters of souls, but the lesser demons retreated to the wastelands. Of the noble Malebranche, precious few remained. After many years, a child of the royal line was born. This child was to be gifted with power far exceeding the unruly Alichino. As Malacoda, he would ensure that demons once again ruled the world. However, a cruel curse had fallen upon the royal house. The long-awaited child was a twin."

The "twins" had to be Roushouki and Enju himself... if the Lord Malacoda was to be trusted. Enju had never thought of himself as anything but human. Alichino were the living embodiments of perfection, but he was as flawed as any other human. He was a respected scholar, but gifted neither with outstanding brilliance nor literary skill. He often overslept, especially on winter mornings, and he wasn't a very good cook. He had a streak of stubbornness that Tsugiri had unfortunately mimicked. Like all humans, Enju was a jumble of good and bad, beauty and baseness. "I don't understand."

"Of course you don't. You've never lived as one of us..." Roushouki rose from the plush bed and ran warm, possessive fingers down Enju's cheek. Enju dug his fingers into the polished wood of the bedpost and tried not to react. Roushouki was only testing him by touching him in ways no one else ever had... not that Enju hadn't quietly longed for someone to embrace him like this, but he had imagined far different scenarios. Maybe, when Tsugiri was just a bit older."

"Among demons, the soul is a very precious thing," lectured Roushouki. "The Alichino thrive on the souls of humans and only open their own when it becomes convenient to bind with a human servant. Twins, born from the same womb, have only one soul between them. The power or the soul is cut in half." The Malacoda walked around him, as if appraising a work of art and finding it amateurish. Enju shivered under his gaze.

"It is the custom among demons to kill the weaker child so that the other might inherit his rightful strength. However... if that other child were to be secreted away and never found, conditioned to believe that he was human... both might survive on that half a soul. One might even become the ruler of all demons, albeit a ruler too weak to control the belligerent Alichino. Forced to hide behind servants, watching as impertinent, inferior demons follow the example of the rebel Myoubi and live freely on stolen souls... all for the sake of a brother who had not the sense to die when he was supposed to die." Roushouki's smile was dangerous now, its sweetness turned crystalline and sharp. "Well, dear brother, did you enjoy the story?"

Enju could not say that he had. "If this story is true... then why have you not killed me?"

"Only the Kusabi could kill the heir of the Malebranche, my impatient brother. But do not worry, he will be here shortly. He does not know it, but he is already in my control." Roushouki made a gesture with his hand, making a small orb of brilliant white light hover in front of him. The light shifted between shapes, never settling on any particular form. At one moment it was a songbird, the next a mouse, then a creature half lizard and half mongoose.

"That's..." Enju had never seen anything like it before, and yet on some instinctive level, he knew what it was. It pained him to see it in Roushouki's lascivious fingers.

"Isn't it beautiful? Half the soul he lost when he died that time... with this, even the Kusabi is my puppet." Roushouki's smile twisted into a cruel snarl in the light cast by Tsugiri's glowing soul. "And then, dear brother, and then... I'll take what is my birthright."

"You won't touch Tsugiri!! Myoubi and Ryouko will stop you! ...I'll stop you!" Roushouki raised a thin eyebrow.

"Do you really think you could keep me from possessing anything I wanted?" He grabbed a handful of his captive's long, reddish curls and pulled just hard enough to make his point clear. "Anything at all..." Instead of a kiss, he ran his tongue against the smooth flesh of Enju's neck, feeling the fluttering pulse.

"I'll resist you!" insisted Enju, struggling against Roushouki's hold.

"I'd like to see you try," laughed the other man. In a smooth motion, he knocked Enju off balance and pinned him back to the bed. The kiss was feral as Enju tried to bite down on the tongue that invaded his mouth, but Roushouki grabbed his face in his hands to force his jaw open. He couldn't scream. Even if he had, who would hear him?

With great effort, Enju wrenched a hand free and slapped Roushouki as hard as he could. He ruefully wished that he had paid more attention to the fighting lessons Ryouko had given Tsugiri. But the clumsy blow had been effective: Roushouki took a step back, more from shock than pain. Enju sat up, his eyes burning with the same intensity as his brother's. He wasn't a brave man by nature, and he would much rather have run or hid. At the moment, though, there were few options other than to hope that Roushouki would grow tired of toying with his prey.

The Malacoda laughed humorlessly and struck Enju with a powerful blow. His heavy jeweled rings left a gash across the other man's forehead, from which blood began to flow freely. Roushouki pulled his stunned captive close and licked the first line of red with a pointed tongue, so their embrace was metallic and sweet with the taste of blood. Enju was almost relieved when the blood poured into his eyes and obscured his vision. It was a brief reprieve from Roushouki's hungry gaze before he finally succumbed to pain and exhaustion. Unconsciousness swallowed him whole.


End file.
